1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an assembled battery reusing system and an apparatus that is used in the assembled battery reusing system.
2. Description of Related Art
In recent years, a hybrid vehicle, an electric vehicle, and the like, that travel by utilizing electric energy are practically used. Such vehicles include electrical storage devices. The electrical storage devices, for example, include assembled batteries each formed by assembling a plurality of cells for obtaining a desired capacity.
The assembled batteries degrade with time through usage. Therefore, maintenance of the assembled batteries is carried out at appropriate timing. In maintenance, for example, the assembled batteries are removed from the vehicles, and new assembled batteries are mounted on the vehicles. Some of the removed assembled batteries are retrieved for reusing, which is, for example, described in International Application Publication No. 2011/162014.
There are mainly three options for reusing assembled batteries; reusing, rebuilding, and recycling. In the case of reusing, retrieved assembled batteries are subjected to shipping inspection, and then directly shipped as reused products. In the case of rebuilding, retrieved assembled batteries are once disassembled into single cells. Among the disassembled single cells, directly usable single cells are assembled together, and new assembled batteries are manufactured. The newly manufactured assembled batteries are subjected to shipping inspection, and are shipped as rebuild products. In the case of recycling, assembled batteries are disassembled and recycled.
In reusing assembled batteries, rebuilding requires the process of disassembling assembled batteries into single cells, the process of inspecting single cells one by one, and the like, so cost increases.